> Carl wrote: > > Not where I come from linguistically. OED says the pronunciation > "of-ten" is frequent in the South of England. I find it frequent > among people who were taught to sound out words from their spelling. > Even my daughter, who, with a Ph.D. in linguistics ought to know > better. >
Granted, I learned to speak English in the South of England, but I still would find "offen" an odd pronunciation. My Queens born and bred mother-in-law is more a fan of the "aw-fen" pronunciation, but then she thinks "Gawd" is a proper word. heh. A quick survey of my mostly American-born co-workers found zero instances of a missing "t". Are you from the south? I've a friend from Alabama who apparently is an "offen" type. > W.S. Gilbert had a great deal of fun punning between "orphan" and > "often'. Frequently. I can't even imagine those two words sounding anything alike. Guess that's what makes language so fascinating. heh. -ajb -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
